Note 4 — Chapter I · THE BEGINNINGS

Judas (Ioudas), of whom there is no mention in any of the epistles, and whose traditional treason is not recognized in the lately-recovered “Gospel of Peter,” or in the pseudo-Pauline reference to “the twelve,” is a late creation; having probably taken shape first as a simple Ioudaios, “a Jew,” in an early Christian mystery-play of the crucifixion and resurrection. Mythologically, the conception may derive from the Diabolos or “Adversary” of Persian lore, as Judas in the gospels is called “a devil”; and the tradition which gave him red hair assimilated him to Typhon, the slayer of the Egyptian Saviour-God, Osiris. On the other hand, the name may have a mythological connection with the story of the betrayal of Joseph by his eleven brethren, of whom Judas was the ringleader.4 The story of the betrayal in the gospels is in any case plainly fabulous. The hired help of Judas is represented as necessary to identify a teacher who figured daily in the temple, and was a familiar figure to the populace. Such a myth can be best explained on the theory that a Jesuist mystery-play, arising or becoming modified among the Gentiles, would readily represent a Jew as betraying the Lord, even as the twelve were represented as forsaking their master. A bag to hold the blood-money would be a dramatic accessory, and would originate the view that Judas had been the treasurer of the apostolic group.